Nice bike! I went on my usual 16 mile (which is really nothing, I know) bike ride last weekend, on my MTB with the tires at 70 lbs., and kicked butt. It really felt good! There are some good hills (understand that I live in the Mississippi River Delta though) and I tried to maintain good speed up all those hills. I would love to have a road bike. Keeping my eyes peeled! Enjoy your new ride when it comes in!

I did >70 miles yesterday on my rain bike (summer had not quite arrived yet in the Seattle area, it's here nicely today though). Only averaged 16.5mph, hit every hill I could. Will do 80+ tomorrow on the TT bike and work on more speed/tempo stuff over rolling roads and skip the climbs.

Regarding Fixies, I really like training on them during the off months. Then during the summer months, I'll do a couple of hard days here and there on my fixie. Really good for strength building and cadence work. The funny thing is too ride fixed for a week or so, then hope back on a regular bike. I don't change gears for a while (~30 miles or so) and just power up hills without changing gears. Drives some of my riding buddies nuts till I settle back into use gears on hills.

Last year I raced a local Sprint Tri on my Tri-bike converted to fixed. Averaged 24mph on a somewhat hilly course. Not bad, did it for kicks. Got a lot of funny looks in the transition area. Have thought about doing an Ironman fixed too, but would like do it single speed so I have a little left in my legs to shuffle the marathon.

Apart form Sean who is mentally unbalanced Fixies are for the cool kids who want to ride but like to buck the status quo by wearing baggy clothes, no helmets and short long pants to show off the tattoos on there calves. Generally they say "wot" a lot and like to snear at people in spandex. They also like to make out they are really awesome at riding by going as fast as possible past people on geared bikes doing there 100mile rides on the way to the shops 5 miles away. I am far to mature for such carry on (now) so have upgraded to full road bike.

I see Fixies all the time when Im working downtown in San Fran , LA or Philadelphia and can understand the whole Underground / Bike Messenger Scene that they have going there. But what I don't understand is the Suburban USA Fixie/want to be bike messenger 20 somethings that are riding them all over my town. We have no businesses that need a bike messenger but each one of these 20something kid has the shoulder bag riding a fixie. I was on a ride the other day and pulled up next to a guy at a light ( Mint green Fixie with deepdish rims 12" handlebar, skinny jeans, v neck t-shirt, hadn't shaved in 5 days messy hair guy), I asked him if he was a bike messenger, he said " no , whats that??" I just kind of laughed and said never mind and took off" it was classic.

As an aside i love the look of the TT/tri bikes like G posted but everyone tells me they are pretty limited on long rides or climbs. True or false?

I have done many 100+ mile rides on Tri bikes. My old frame (Litespeed, now the current Fixie) was very comfortable over long distance and faster over distance than any road bike I've been on. It did not climb the steeper stuff as well as a stiff roadie, but it was not designed too.

My current Tri bike is lighter and stiffer than my old Litespeed. It's about 1 to 2mph faster than my roadie with the same effort on most roads. climbs really well for a Tri bike, but not quite as good as a road bike due to the seat post angle. You are simply set to far forward on Tri/TT bike to engage the right muscles for hard core climbing. For speed, aero is king and that's what Tri/TT bikes are good at, getting your body into an aero position.

I have a 35 mile hilly point to point route that I like to ride, my new Tri bike is 5 to 10 mins faster than my roadie over that ride. It climbs well enough that I don't loose much speed and is faster on the flats and rollers. Specialized has some results online that demonstrate the speed increase as you move from a roadie to a roadie with aerobars, to a Tri/TT bike to a Tri/TT bike with aero kit (helmet/wheels...), it's pretty significant.

I'm planning on doing a 225 mile solo ride this coming Saturday, no question I will be using my Tri bike. I'll drop the aero wheels and run a different set for the ride, that's a pic of the bike in race trim.

While riding solo on a roadie, try chasing down a fast moving solo rider on a Tri/TT bike. You'll be surprised just how much effort it takes.

Fit is king though, it's easy to go over board trying to get your aero bike fit really low. Doing this moves your hips into a less efficient angle and you start to loose power. So there is a balance that needs to be found, aero vs comfort vs power. I use our CompuTrainer at home to dial my fit in. You can see the drop in power when your hips get positioned wrong.

incidently... just because you ride a road bike doesn't mean you have to wear spandex. I skip the whole getup for my commute to work. I usually wear cutoff long adidas workout pants and a t-shirt. I use a snowboard backpack that has hip and chest straps. I can haul food, clothes and lot's of other stuff comfortably. Plus it's fun to get the looks of disgust from the hardcore cyclists that are out training when I'm headed to work.

Sweet bikes guys. I'm getting the itch to start upgrading components or maybe sell the Bianchi and make a little step up to something lighter.

incidently... just because you ride a road bike doesn't mean you have to wear spandex. I skip the whole getup for my commute to work. I usually wear cutoff long adidas workout pants and a t-shirt. I use a snowboard backpack that has hip and chest straps. I can haul food, clothes and lot's of other stuff comfortably. Plus it's fun to get the looks of disgust from the hardcore cyclists that are out training when I'm headed to work.

Sweet bikes guys. I'm getting the itch to start upgrading components or maybe sell the Bianchi and make a little step up to something lighter.

What? You don't pack any baby oil so you can rub your legs down before going into Starbucks to drive the Cougars crazy.... I have heard of dudes doing this.... not kidding.

This is how I roll the miniMagic to school now and then. You should see the faces on pro wannabe's when I pass them wearing MTB shoes and regular clothes and the little one is ringing bike bells from inside the Chariot.